SafePeak Installation guide

For Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008

Installation
Guide v1.3

Copyright © 2007 – 2011 SAFEPEAK TECHNOLOGIES LTD. All rights reserved.

SafePeak v1.3 Installation Guide

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of DCF
TECHNOLOGIES LTD. Information in this document is subject to change without prior notice.

SAFEPEAK is a trademark of SAFEPEAK TECHNOLOGIES LTD

Microsoft, Windows and SQL Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

The names of other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

For Sales and Technical Support please visit www.safepeak.com

This guide is frequently updated to reflect changes in the product. The latest version can always
be accessed by customers under support at http://www.safepeak.com/pages/support.aspx

This guide was prepared for SafePeak for SQL Server Version 1.3 (January 2010)


Table of Contents

Contents
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 3
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Minimum System Requirements ............................................................................................................ 4
3. How to Install SafePeak ............................................................................................................................. 5
4. License Agreement ...................................................................................................................................... 5
5. Where to Install SafePeak ......................................................................................................................... 5
6. Choosing the Installation type................................................................................................................. 6
7. Setting Up Microsoft NLB with Virtual IP ........................................................................................... 7
8. Define SafePeak IP ....................................................................................................................................... 8
9. Adding SafePeak License ........................................................................................................................... 8
10. Administrator login details .................................................................................................................. 9
11. During Installation................................................................................................................................... 9
12. When the Installation Is Complete ................................................................................................. 10
13. Adding Database Instances ............................................................................................................... 11
14. Fine-Tuning SafePeak Cache Configuration ............................................................................... 14
15. Uninstall SafePeak ................................................................................................................................ 16
16. Appendix A – Connecting the Application to SafePeak .......................................................... 17


1. Introduction

Welcome to SafePeak for Microsoft SQL Server. This guide explains how to install and set up SafePeak
v1.3. SafePeak dramatically accelerates data access and retrieval providing immediate results, with no
need to change existing databases or applications. Increasing database response time from SQL
database queries and enhancing system scalability by orders of magnitude, SafePeak ensures high
availability for mission-critical applications and safeguards against unpredictable traffic spikes and
surges of usage.

We have tried to streamline the SafePeak installation to make it easy and straightforward to install. The
information contained in this guide will direct you in preparing for the installation of SafePeak and
successfully executing the software into place.

2. Minimum System Requirements

SafePeak has been tested and verified with Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. Please make
sure that the server on which you plan to install SafePeak meets the minimum system requirements for
the program to run: You must only install ONE SafePeak installation at one time otherwise you could
cause serious system instability. If other applications, programs or data have previously been installed
on your server, they may interfere with SafePeak. We recommend removing all software, before
installing SafePeak to avoid the possibility of serious problems.

Deployed on standalone server or a virtual machine:

Operating system Windows 2008 R2 64-bit or Windows 2008 64bit
Supported Virtual VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XEN
Systems
CPU Minimum 1 CPU / 4 Cores, 2 Cores per each SQL Server Instance
RAM Minimum 4GB, 2GB per SQL Server Instance
Hard Drive 50GB for each SQL Server Instance
Network Cards 1Gb Ethernet, or same speed as the SQL Server Instances

Recommended systems requirements
Recommended system requirements are dependent on the connected to SafePeak SQL Server Instances.

CPU Cores 1/4 of CPU-Cores on the SQL Server Instances. Minimum 4 Cores.
RAM 1/4 of RAM on the SQL Server Instances. Minimum 4 GB RAM.
The recommended RAM varies between different sites, is dependent on
multiple parameters. The major ones:
1) potential amount of different queries; 2) number of databases on the
SQL Server 2) whether large entities (files) are stored and retrieved
from SQL Server


3. How to Install SafePeak
Put SafePeak CD into drive or copy the SafePeak installation executable onto the SafePeak dedicated
server. You can either run as console or use remote desktop to start the installation. When installing
from the CD, the install wizard will pop up automatically. If the pop up does not appear, go to the root
directory of the CD and double click on Setup.exe. Click Next to continue.

4. License Agreement
The license agreement will appear. Please read the license agreement and if you agree to the terms and
conditions, click on I AGREE to move forward in the installation.

5. Where to Install SafePeak


The next screen determines in which directory SafePeak will be installed. The default directory is
C:SafePeak. If you would like to install SafePeak in a different directory, please browse to choose a
destination folder.

Important: SafePeak directory path has to be English letters only.
The minimum free space available on the disk is 30 GB. Press Next to initiate the installation.

6. Choosing the Installation type
Select the installation type (standard or enterprise). If you are installing SafePeak on a Virtual Machine,
skip this section and go to section 8.


7. Setting Up Microsoft NLB with Virtual IP
This step is relevant only for physical machine installation, if you are installing on a VM please proceed
to section 8.

There are two fields that need to be filled in the next screen.

1. The IP address is used to define the Virtual IP. All connection strings will use this IP address to
redirect the network traffic to SafePeak. The IP address should be in the same segment as the
database server. Your IT systems manager should provide the IP address.

2. The second field is the Interface Name on which the Virtual IP will be created. Make sure that it
has static IP with the same subnet mask as you entered in the first field. Click on Next.

Note: This is not the IP address configured for the SafePeak server. It is a secondary IP address used
for the SafePeak cluster.


8. Define SafePeak IP
This step is relevant for installation on a virtual machine. This screen will appear if the Virtual Machine
has several IPs and it allows you to select the IP SafePeak will use.

9. Adding SafePeak License

Browse to physical location on your hard drive or CD where SafePeak license file is located.
In case you are installing a trial version – you will need to a trial license.


10. Administrator login details

Please enter SafePeak Administrator full name, email and password. These credentials will
be used for login to SafePeak Dashboard. Additional logins with more limited operational
permissions can be inserted later inside SafePeak Dashboard.

11. During Installation
The installation consists of various steps including directory creation, file extraction, creation of
SafePeak internal repository, addition of windows features such as .NET 3.5 framework, and IIS as
needed and the configuration of Windows NLB (for dedicated server).


12. When the Installation Is Complete
When the installation is complete a new screen will appear enabling you to start SafePeak and add
instances. Simply check the box Start SafePeak UI and click on Finish to invoke SafePeak GUI to start
adding database instances.

Go to section 14 to begin adding database instances.


13. Adding Database Instances
SafePeak automatically provides a default email address and password. Press Login to continue.

Go to Settings tab and click on the SQL Instance Management to add new instances.

Click on the Add button at the top of the screen.


The Add Instance dialog box will pop up. Enter the requested parameters as follows:

1. Instance Name – This name will appear in SafePeak Dashboard. Tip: use the same name as the
SQL Server Instance
2. Instance IP – The IP address for the SQL Server instance
3. SQL Port – The port that the SQL Server instance will listen on
4. SQL username – The login for the SQL Server. This login must have system administrator
privileges in order to execute SQL Server Agent Jobs via SafePeak
5. Password – The password of the SQL username
6. SafePeak Port – The port which SafePeak will use for this instance

Click OK and the new instance will appear in the table of instances.

Alert Line - at the top of the screen, the alert line will notify you that the instance was successfully
recorded to be installed. It usually takes about 10 seconds until the installation process begins.


The installation process contains several phases:

 Installing – All needed services, firewall ports, directories are created

 Learning Instance Structure – The Metadata Learning Service starts learning the instance
structure and creates the dependency relations

 Active – The Metadata Learning Service has completed learning the Instance Structure and
SafePeak is ready to accept requests for this instance.

After adding instance, both during status “Learning Instance Structure” and status “Active”, you should
connect the application (reroute the application connection string) to point SafePeak instead of the
database (see Appendix A).

SafePeak automatic mechanisms perform audit, scan and analysis of application traffic to the database.
Each 15 minutes Pattern Builder service creates Sql patterns and applies all “READ and Deterministic
Patterns” for caching.
Each 1 hour statistics of the traffic are calculated and the dashboard information is updated.


14. Fine-Tuning SafePeak Cache Configuration
To fine-tune the configuration you will need to specially review and if needed perform manual tuning of:
1. “Unparsed Objects”
2. Non-deterministic patterns.

Unparsed Objects
Unparsed objects are database objects that SafePeak Metadata Learning service couldn’t fully
understand. Most common objects are “stored procedures” and “user defined functions”.
There are four main options for an object to become “unparsed”:
a) Dynamic SQL execution.
The object contains statements that dynamically create an SQL and execute it. SafePeak
does not try to analyze the dynamic sql text which may be variable and depend on run-
time data.
b) Encrypted objects
SafePeak does not have the permissions to access the SQL text to determine what the
object does.
c) CLR objects
SafePeak handles SQL objects and does not try to understand objects written in CLR.
d) Parsing failure
On some rare occasions, the SafePeak parser may find a statement it cannot parse in the
object’s SQL text. In such case the object is considered and treated as “unparsed”.

In such cases, SafePeak takes the safest course of action to ensure data correctness. However, this
reduces SafePeak cache efficiency when the object is used. By default, when an unparsed object is
executed, SafePeak addresses it as follows:

 Evict All Cache – SafePeak clears all data from the cache and disables SafePeak cache for the
duration of the current transaction;
 Consider possible DDL execution – After the statement is executed, SafePeak sends the SafePeak
Metadata Learning service a request to analyze the database, and maintains the cache disabled
for the duration of this analysis. This shows up in the SafePeak Dashboard as “Cache: DISABLED
(DDL)”;
 Contains possible TCL execution – After the statement is executed, SafePeak analyzes the
database response to determine if a transaction was opened or closed in the database;
 Possibly Non-Deterministic – SQL statements that reference or execute these objects will not be
auto-applied.

Many times, it is possible to significantly increasing SafePeak efficiency by performing the Unparsed
Object configuration.


Configuration of Unparsed objects:
Definition in SafePeak of any object includes:
a) Boolean flags: Evict All Cache, DDL command inside, Transaction inside, Deterministic query.
b) Object Dependencies: 1) READ, WRITE of tables and views; 2) Exec of Stored Procedure and
functions.

Configuration guidelines:
1. Open Cache management [Instance] [Database] Unparsed Objects (TAB)
2. Configure all objects that “% of Unparsed” is bigger than 0:
a. Read the Unparsed Reason. This will help you understand what needs to be configured.
b. Find, open and read the object text in SQL Management Studio or other similar tool.
c. Define the object dependencies.
d. Configure the object flags
e. Click Save.

Non-deterministic patterns
In some cases, SafePeak will recognize a particular SQL pattern as being non-deterministic. For example,
getdate() will return a different result every time. However, if the SQL statement uses getdate() but only
requires the current day or month, it is still possible to cache the pattern but maintain the cache only for
the duration of one day. In other cases, the benefits of caching such a non-deterministic statement
outweigh the minor differences in data that would result if the statement were cached. SafePeak will
not auto-apply these patterns on its own.

In these cases, the pattern can be manually applied and configured, with or without advanced caching
rules, for providing performance and scalability for the application and the database.

Please reference the product help included in SafePeak for additional help.
Please send any comments or questions regarding this installation guide to info@SafePeaktech.com.


15. Uninstall SafePeak
SafePeak can be uninstalled using the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel or from Start-
>Programs->SafePeak->Uninstall. After clicking the uninstall button, a confirmation question will pop up.
Click Yes to uninstall SafePeak or No to cancel. The uninstall process will remove all SafePeak services,
internal repository, delete files and delete the directories created in the installation process.


16. Appendix A – Connecting the Application to SafePeak
In order to connect the application to SafePeak, there are few steps to follow:

1. Option 1: Connect application using WINDOWSSystem32DriversEtchosts file
You may choose to reroute your application by changing the “hosts” file on all application
servers. This way all database access will be immediately rerouted via SafePeak.
Example:
# SafePeak IP Database Hostname
10.10.10.245 MyDBServerName

2. Option 2: Update database connection string in the application
All the database traffic has to be routed via SafePeak. In order to do that, you need to change
the database connection string from the Database server to SafePeak server. The connection
string can be found in web.config files (for web servers) or the application management screen
(SharePoint, etc.)
The change itself is simple, for example, if use Microsoft’s JDBC driver, Change from:
jdbc:sqlserver://[db server]:[db port];databaseName=db1
Change to: jdbc:sqlserver://[safepeak server]:[safepeak port];databaseName=db1

You need to change the server name and the port number as provided in Section 15.

3. If you have SQL Agent active and SQL Agent Jobs that perform changes on the database then:
Connect SQL Server Agent
You need to reroute the jobs via SafePeak. This is done by defining an alias for SafePeak and set
this alias as the connection for the SQL Server agent.

Setting up an alias
On the database server, open “SQL server configuration manager”, open the SQL Native Client
(32 or 64 according to the database type) and right click on aliases, choose “New Alias…”.


On the new alias window, insert alias name, SafePeak port and server name as provided in
Appendix 14.

Click Apply, and OK to close the window. You can close “SQL server configuration manager”.

Connecting the Alias to SQL Server Agent
Open “SQL Server Management Studio” and connect to the database.
Right click on “SQL Server Agent” and select properties.
On the left menu, select connection, insert the alias name you created before in the “Alias local
host server:” and press OK.

Make sure to restart the SQL Server Agent after this change.
Note, Sometimes the SQL Agent job will not start due to authentication configuration, in this
case, change the server name in the alias to “localhost”, start the SQL Server agent and contact
SafePeak support.


For Sales and Technical Support please visit www.safepeak.com

This guide is frequently updated to reflect changes in the product. The latest version can always
be accessed by customers under support at http://www.safepeak.com/pages/support.aspx

This guide was prepared for SafePeak for SQL Server version 1.3.


SafePeak Installation guide

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